Three Years In The Making
by UltraRocker28X
Summary: Tali finally admits her love for Shepard while drunk at a poker game. One thing will lead to another as their feelings towards each other will come out into the open.


** This is my first fanfic ever, i've been working on it for about a month. It's probably not even close to some of the stuff on here but hope you like it all the same. This story takes place in ME2 after you investigate the collector attack on the human colony of Horizon, it's not entirely accurate but i think the point is made. It is a description of Tali and Shepard's romance, with some alterations.**

**Hope you enjoy. :)**

* * *

In stepped Shepard, Garrus and Mordin as the Normandy's airlock door opened, returning after a long fight with collector forces on Horizon, Shepard stormed across the bridge and into the elevator and took it up to his cabin, as Garrus & Mordin, as well as some of the rest of the crew, watched him and saw his anger building up. Shepard arrived to his cabin, he barged down the three small steps in his room removing his helmet and threw it onto his bed, then took a seat at his desk and began groveling over what his former crew member, Ashley Williams, had said about him and Cerberus, he was not a traitor, and he sure as hell didn't work for Cerberus, he just wished that Ash could see it. Shortly thereafter a familiar feminine voice emerged from the speakers in the cabin.

"Commander?" said miss Kelly Chambers over the intercom.

"Yes Kelly?" Shepard replied, now starting to calm down.

"..Grunt says he has a personal matter that he wishes to speak to you about. He's very persistent."

Shepard stood up and took a deep breath, he then replied "Thank you Kelly, tell Grunt I'm on my way."

Shepard then started to remove his armor and change into his casual attire, he exited his cabin and headed towards the elevator. On the way down he had calmed himself down enough that he had come to terms with the fact that, the past was the past, and that he couldn't let that affect the mission, they needed to stop the Collectors, and he would not let the stress of something like this distract him, there was to much at stake, he quickly put it behind him.

He headed down to deck 4, then to the cargo hold, as he entered the room he saw Grunt standing there staring at his reflection in the tank in which he was created. His hands were clenched into fists and with one fell swoop, punched the glass of the tank and shattered it to pieces, letting out a shout of anger, Shepard lowered his arms, which he had raised to protect himself from any flying debris.

"Grunt?" he asked "Kelly said you wanted to see me, you got something on your mind?"

Grunt turned his head slightly to look at Shepard, "Yeah, I do..." he whipped back.

After he and Grunt had finished their conversation, Shepard had decided to see how Kenneth & Gabriella in engineering were doing with the new FBA couplings he had bought. He entered through one of the small rooms between the cargo bay overview and the engine room, he entered into the engine room coming up behind Kenneth. He taped Kenneth on his shoulder to grab his attention.

"So, you enjoying those new couplings I got for you?" he said.

Ken jumped slightly as he and Gabby turned around to see the commander standing behind them.

"Oh, hello commander, we didn't hear you come in. Yes thank you, those couplings are a huge help, now we only have to calibrate the engine every week instead of every day." he replied.

"No problem, just give me a call if you need anything else, alright." requested Shepard.

"Actually commander..." Kenneth interjected "...we were thinking about celebrating with a game on Skyllian Five poker. Want to join us?"

Before he could answer he heard a small chuckle come from his left, he looked over to see that the chuckle had come from Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, the lovely Quarian engineer with her beautiful figure and shy persona looking down at her terminal as always. Seeing Tali always put a smile on Shepard's face.

He turned back to Kenneth and replied "Actually that sounds pretty interesting, count me in."

"That's great!" Kenneth exclaimed excitedly, "What about you Tali, would you like to join us?" he asked as he turned his head towards her.

Tali had been caught off guard, she looked up towards Ken and responded nervously, wringing her hands together as she often did.

"Me?! Well, I umm... I don't know, I not sure if i'd be all that good, and besides I've got a tone of maintenance to do and..."

Shepard interrupted her in mid-rant, "Come on Tali, it'll be fun. I'm sure the ship can survive long enough for you to play a simple game of cards." he said in a joking manner.

Tali responded with a slight shyness "Ok, if you say so Shepard."

* * *

Their eyes locked in a showdown, Kenneth and Shepard were staring each other down waiting for Gabby to deal the last card, three hours of cards and drinking had gone flying by, Tali watched attentively, as she finished off what was left of her sterilized dextro beer. They both placed their bets, Kenneth had taken the risk and gone all in, hoping that Shepard wouldn't think he was bluffing, Shepard, having been wining all night, had without hesitation placed double what Kenneth had bet, very confident of his action. They flipped their cards, and to no ones surprise Shepard had won yet again.

"Shit, you play some mean cards Shepard! I've never seen Kenneth sweat like that." remarked Gabriella as she pulled up a chair and the rest of them sat back into theirs.

"*hicuup* And I thought I had a good poker face." Tali added while trying not to slur her words.

"You're alright Shepard, most officer wouldn't bother with the likes of us." Kenneth said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead and took a sip of his beer.

"*hiccup* That was great Shepard, I haven't had that much fun *hiccup* in years." said Tali, trying desperately to speak clearly.

"Well I'm glad you had fun Tali..." interjected Kenneth as he started to put away the deck, "...but are you sure you're alright? You drank quite a lot." he continued.

"Pfft! I'm fine. The suit doesn't let me get overly intoxic...*hiccup* intox... *hiccup* drunk. Just, give me a minute."

"Don't worry guys I'll make sure she gets to bed without hurting herself." responded Shepard

He reached out and shook both their hands and thanked them for the great game. Ken & Gabby then left the room waving goodbye to Shepard and Tali, as Shepard waved back Tali had fallen to the floor giggling.

"You ok Tali?" he asked with a slight chuckle to his voice.

"Yeah, fine, *hiccup* sure... Hehehe..." Tali responded, trying to keep herself up.

Shepard reached over grabbing Tali's hand and putting her arm over his shoulder helping her off the floor, and started to walk towards the door, "Come on Tali let's get you to bed."

"Ooh the great commander Shepard is trying to get me into bed huh? Hehehe." Tali replied with a drunken flirtatious voice.

"Sounds like your suggesting something Tali." Shepard said, trying to continue the joke.

"What could I possibly be suggesting? *hiccup* I mean a young lady gets rescued by a sexy commander who then let's her come with him to save the galaxy. *hiccup* How could she be suggesting anything?" Tali continued with her flirtatious tone, this time with a small audible laugh in her speech.

Shepard's expression had changed now with more of a serious look "Don't get too exited Tali, what you need is some rest." he said trying to drop the subject. He turned his head away from Tali, blushing and desperately trying to hide the smile on his face, they said nothing the rest of the way to the crews quarters on deck 3, except for the odd hiccup or groan from Tali. When they reached the bedroom Shepard laid Tali down onto her bed, while she laughed at what were probably jokes she had made up in her head.

"Bye bye Shepard.." she said in a sleeping tone, opening and closing her three digit fingers repeatedly to symbolize a wave, as Shepard left the room.

On his way up to his cabin, Shepard was thinking of what had just happened, did Tali mean that or was it just the alcohol talking? These thoughts continued all throughout the night, which made Shepard restless, had Tali felt the same way about him as he did for her?

* * *

The next morning Shepard awoke, sleep deprived and confused, as the thoughts in his head of his Quarian friend would not stop. He took the elevator down to the CIC as he normally did, and walked over to the galaxy map and selected a destination.

"Joker, take us to Tuchunka." he said aloud.

Which was met with Joker's voice over the speakers, "Aye aye commander, setting a course for the Krogan DMZ now."

Shepard stood down off of the platform above the galaxy map and then went to check his private terminal. As he was browsing through the messages, sorting them through level of importance, he then noticed a message not like the others. This one wasn't a mission report or a letter from one of the many people he had helped, this one was from Tali. He immediately opened the message and began to read it;

Shepard,

I would like to talk to you in regard to the events of  
last night. If you have time I would like with speak  
with you in person.

-Tali

He quickly turned off his terminal and rushed for the elevator, he pressed the button on the control panel and headed down to deck 4. A few moments later he exited the elevator and went directly to the engine room, not stopping for anything else, he came through the door directly behind Tali, stopping behind her. She was typing on her terminal with one hand, and holding the visor of her helmet with the other, probably because of the hangover she most likely had, he took a small pause before he cleared his throat to get her attention. Tali casually turned around thinking that it was Ken or Gabby, when she realized it was Shepard, she jumped.

"Shepard! I umm..." she said, then stared down at the floor while wringing her hands together. She peaked over to Ken and Gabby and saw them snickering between each other, "Come with me" as she gestured her hand to her left.

They walked over to the core control panel, and before they stopped walking Tali had begun to speak.

"I wanted to apologies for my behavior last night. I'm sorry, I was being unprofessional, and I probably crossed a line, and it was stupid, and..."

Shepard interjected and looked at her with a smile "It wasn't stupid Tali, but i need to know, did you mean any of that?"

Tali stopped staring at the floor but couldn't look Shepard in the eye, if anything she was looking everywhere but at Shepard, "Well i umm... Yes, I mean no.. well.. maybe, but not if that offends you, not to say that it would offend you but..." she rambled.

Shepard stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder and saying "There's nothing to be embarrassed about Tali. I feel the same way about you. I just wasn't sure about how you felt about me. Until now that is." he stated.

This caught Tali off her guard yet again, despite her feelings towards him, she had not thought that Shepard was interested in her, she had not thought that the Savior of the Citadel, and her friend, was remotely attracted to the Quarian engineer who could barely even look him in the eye. Not a moment past as she looked up into his piercing blue eyes and responded in shock.

"Really? I didn't... You never... Well, good..." now with a tone more relaxed but still a hint of insecurity "...but no, I can't. I wish I could but... You deserve to... be happy with someone. I can't do that, no matter how much I... I could get sick, jeopardize the mission."

Shepard's eyes widened "Are you saying you could die if we were together?"

"It's always a risk, maybe the reaction would be minor, maybe it would put me down for a few weeks, or maybe it would kill me." she answered, "But.. that's not what I'm concerned about Shepard." She looked back down, again unable to look him in the eye.

Shepard lightly grabed her arm, and tilted his head in front of hers, "Then what are you concerned about Tali?" he asked.

She looked back up, as she attempted to say that she was scared, nervous and a little embarrassed about all of it, all she could say was "Well.. I don't want you to be distracted, and I don't want what I want to affect your decisions, it's to important."

"What if there was no mission, what if it were just you and me?"

"If it were just us? I was with you when you risked your life to save the colonists on Feros two years ago, I watched your face as Lieutenant Alenko died on Virmire. I've watched you stand strong against everything the galaxy threw at you. I've watched you for so long... but I never thought you could ever see past.. this." Tali said as she gestured to her mask.

Shepard took a step closer to Tali and joined his hands to hers, "Tali if your scared I don't blame you. But I don't want anyone else, I want you. And I'll do whatever I can to make this work."

Tali blushed, now staring directly into his deep blue eyes, and she could see the sincerity within them.

"Thank you.. you don't know what that.. thank you." she slowly pulled her hands away from Shepard's "...Give me a little time. I'll do some research, figure out how to make.. this, work."

Shepard smiled again, as he too looked into Tali's glowing silver eyes obscured through the clouded purple tint of her mask.

"Do your research quickly miss Vas Normandy. Captain's orders." he with a playful yet soothing voice.

He then began to leave the room, keeping his eyes on Tali, "Oh, Right. Yes.. definitely.." she said in a seductive voice.

As Shepard left the room. Tali smiled and blushed even harder as she looked back down to the floor and put her hand to the mouth piece of her helmet and let out a small giggle. Then, with a smile, she returned to her workstation.

* * *

** And there it is. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it, there will most likely be a second part to this. but I would very much appreciate it if you could give me any suggestions on how I could make my future stories better. I hope i will hear from you guys soon.**


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